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NORTHERN NEWS, DECEMBER 8, 2010
NEWS
Ticket Prices
Seated Grandstand $30,
General Admission Adult $10, Child $5.
Ticketing Outlets
Council Service Centres at Kaitaia, Kaikohe,
Kawakawa. Procter Library,
Kerikeri. i-SITES at Kaitaia, Opononi,
Paihia and Doubtless Bay Information Centre.
Phone
0800 920 029
PRE-SEASON SUPER RUGBY
5PM FRIDAY 4 FEB 2011
KERIKERI DOMAIN
v
HURRICANES
Email
super15@fndc.co.nz
GREAT CHRISTMAS PRESENT
Breaking fire ban costly
Break the fire restriction rules and the
financial penalties can be crippling.
An overseas yachting visitor left the
country $10,000 out of pocket after a
barbecue on the beach last summer
sparked a fire which destroyed
regenerating bush and threatened
multi-million dollar homes in the Bay
of Islands.
It was a costly error in judgement
but it could have been so much worse
if the fire had not been contained
before it reached the houses, Far
North principal rural fire officer Lance
Johnston says.
As the Far North moves into a
restricted fire season, fire authorities
are using last summer s incident to
warn people of the consequences of
ignoring seasonal fire restrictions.
Before you think about lighting any
fire in the open during a restricted fire
season, make sure you have a permit.
If you are in an area which has a
closed fire season, don t even think
about it, Mr Johnston says.
A restricted fire season effective
from midnight on December 10 has
been declared for the Far North.
Permits are now required before
lighting any fire in the open.
Dry conditions and an increase in
uncontrolled scrub fires have
prompted the restrictions.
Fire authorities will meet next week
to consider widening the restrictions in
the Aupouri/Karikari Rural Fire Dis-
trict to a total ban.
The only exception to the require-
ment for a permit is for purpose-
designed gas-fired barbecues.
Applications for fire permits are
available from council service centres
across the district.
Award for bravery
Bravery award: Steve Holmes, left, receiving a special commendation award.
A BRAVERY award has been
given to a Ngawha Prison officer
who risked his life to help a
woman who was assaulted by a
man with a knife.
Steve Holmes was on a day off
in August and refuelling his car at
a petrol station in Whangarei
when he saw a man attacking a
woman across the road.
Steve approached the man and
used his experience in working
with prisoners to try and calm
him down.
The man ran away and was
caught by police an hour later.
Corrections Department chief
executive Barry Matthews gave
Steve a special commendation for
his actions last month.
Mr Matthews said Steve risked
his life to help the woman.
Although he didn t know it at
the time, the man was holding a
knife and the situation could have
been very grave.
Corrections staff are trained to
deal with threatening and hostile
prisoners, but Steve went beyond
his duties by putting a stranger s
wellbeing ahead of his own safety,
Mr Matthews said.
Those actions may have saved
the woman from serious injury at
the hands of the man.
It was appropriate that he pres-
ented Steve with the award on
White Ribbon Day.
Wearing the white ribbon
indicates, particularly for men,
that violence towards women and
children is unacceptable.
At the time, Steve said he was
surprised at the number of people
who stood by and watched the
situation
unfolding, Mr
Matthews said.
Watching while someone is
assaulted is, in effect, condoning
that violence.
Mr Matthews also commended
Steve s views on the incident.
Steve said that anyone would
do the same if they saw a woman
being hit.
Sadly, if that was the reality, I
am sure our domestic violence
statistics wouldn t be so grim.
Water saving plans put in place
Save it: The council's campaign.
The Far North District Council is
putting drought action plans in
place.
Spokesman David Penny says
the latest forecasts are for con-
tinuing dry weather at least until
Christmas.
Messages about the importance
of saving water are being distrib-
uted to council service centres,
i-SITES and libraries with
leaflets, posters, signs, fridge
magnets and liveried cars forming
part of the planned water saving
arsenal.
Mr Penny says voluntary
savings can achieve a great deal,
as was shown in Kaitaia last sum-
mer when the community pulled
together and cut water use by 20
percent in the drought-hit town.
As well as encouraging home
owners and businesses to reduce
water use, the council will target
hotels and motels in the Bay of
Islands where demand tradition-
ally outstrips supply during the
peak Christmas and New Year
period.
We ll provide water conser-
vation resources to accommo-
dation providers in the Bay and
ask them to give them out to
guests, Mr Penny says.
Saving water is a habit that
everyone needs to get into and we
ask people to reduce their water
use now. We need everyone to
save water in all our communities
-- people on our reticulated water
supply and people with rain water
tanks -- because treated water is
used for tank refills and this also
places a strain on our reticulated
water supply.
The council is taking other
measures to keep supplies going
this summer. Overnight leak
detection testing has been carried
out on the Kawakawa-Moerewa
water supply to determine where
water is being lost.
Technology to control algae
growth is being installed at the
Kauri dam, which is a water
supply source for Kaitaia, and the
council will be approaching people
who take raw water from the dam
for household use with a view to
arranging an alternative source
which does not compromise the
community supply. Last year, the
council could not implement some
steps to treat toxic algae in the
dam water because of the risk to
those who used the untreated
water for drinking.
Mr Penny says the challenge in
introducing a new water source
such as the Sweetwater aquifer at
Awanui lay in the planning and
approval process, which the coun-
cil was currently going through.
For cost free tips to save water,
visit the council website www.
fndc.govt.nz